Leadership Practices and Current Ministry Experience of Master's-Level Seminary Students

The problem of this study involved the identification of differences in leadership practices between master's-level students at Dallas Theological Seminary based on the independent variable of ministry leadership involvement. A total of 1,254 master's-level seminary students enrolled on the main campus of Dallas Seminary during the fall Semester of 2003 received a packet consisting of the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI-Self), a demographic survey, and a cover letter. A total of 330 survey packets were returned and a MANOVA was used to test for statistical differences in score on the LPI-Self. Statistically significant differences were found in the LPI-Self scores between groups based on current ministry experience (Wilks' lambda = 0.898, F = 3.586, p = 0.001). Students involved in 10 or more hours of weekly ministry experience scored significantly higher in challenging, inspiring, and encouraging.